Let Britain Decide

Conservatives won the first round last week in the battle to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership.

James Wharton's private members bill which would provide for an EU referendum in 2017 passed its' first hurdle in the House of Commons when MPs voted to pass it to the next stage of the legislative process by 304 votes to nil.

The Labour and Liberal Democrat parties told their MPs to abstain and most of them did, although half a dozen Labour rebels voted for the bill.

Although it has passed its first parliamentary hurdle, the bill will face much stronger opposition later and its passage through Parliament is far from guaranteed.

Whether we are in or out of the EU, I believe Britain's position will be clearer and stronger if the people of Britain, rather than politicians on their behalf, have made the choice.
If you want to support the campaign for a referendum, you can do so at the Let Britain Decide website.

Comments

Jim said…
I wait with bated breath to find out what the question we are allowed to answer is.

How does the UK leave the EU? - Now I am not trying to put words in your mouth or anything, but its blooming obvious that 35 years of of laws, and intertwining, trade deals, negotiations, can not be undone overnight (it would cause havoc)

What we could do is activate article 50 of TEU thus forcing the Eu to negotiate our position after leaving, we add all EU laws to british law at this point. we could remain EFTA/EAA until we negotiate our own deals and become EFTA/agreements.

You see this blows away the business single market issue, and also ensures there is no "shock" the day after leaving will be no different to the day before. Then the long slow process of unpicking regulations can begin.

I like the Boiling Frog story to compare to the EU. If you put a pan on and heat the water then drop in the frog, he jumps out. If you put the frog into cold water then set the pan over a low heat the water temperature raises slowly and the frog will not notice as he is cooked to death, and stays in the pan. - You can not save the boiling frog by taking him out of the boiling water and putting him in the freezer, the shock would kill him. Instead you turn off the gas hob and let the water temperature fall slowly.
Tim said…
I doubt very much if the LibLabCon will ever let us decide on our membership of the EUSSR.
Jim said…
sadly Tim, I do think you are right
Chris Whiteside said…
I do not claim to know whether the Labour Party or the Lib/Dems will ever let the voters decide if Britain should remain part of the European Union.

I do believe that the Conservatives are absolutely serious about holdiong such a voten and that if the Conservatives win the next election having given the sort of promise which I expect to feature in the manifesto, it would be impossible not to honour it.
Chris Whiteside said…
I also think that if James Wharton's Referendum Bill does become law it would be impossible for a Conservative government to repeal it or to fail to comply with it.

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